The Meaning Behind Lil Wayne's TNT Face Tattoo
It's almost impossible to believe that Lil Wayne once didn't have any tattoos, especially on his face, because now it's a permanent part of his brand. According to a 2017 Fader interview with the rapper's on-call tattoo artist Dow Hokoana, Wayne has his entire body tattooed.
"I had made a guess that it would happen in three years," she said. "And sure enough, three-and-a-half years later we did every part of his body." Hokoana is responsible for upwards of 300 of his tattoos, and gives insight into some of their meanings, which aren't also super detailed.
"He has a cloud and a lightening bolt on his cheek, up by his temple. One day he's like, 'I want that' and points to my daughter's book bag and there was this lightening bolt on it. I was like, 'You really want that? I'm a custom artist. I can do some cool stuff,'" she said. "Sometimes he just doesn't want it to get that deep. Sometimes it's 'just a tattoo.' But sometimes it did mean stuff." While maybe not all his ink is super deep, fans did notice a new face tattoo that actually has a pretty romantic back story.
Lil Wayne has a matching tattoo with his ex-fiancee
According to The Blast, Lil Wayne first revealed his explosive tattoo of a stick of dynamite with the letters "TNT" in late 2019. The Louisiana rapper has the ink under his right eye above his slightly larger peace symbol. Many fans assumed that the tattoo's positioning was a symbol for Wayne's visual interpretation of "the duality of his humanity," per Lil Wayne HQ, however, he's not the only one who has the dynamite tattoo.
The "Lollipop" rapper's former fiancee and plus-sized model La'Tecia Thomas has a stick of stick tattooed along the top of her right ring finger. According to Rap-Up, the tat was done some time in February 2020. Also as reported by Rap-Up, the couple ended their engagement in May 2020. Who knows if Thomas is healing from her break-up with a new beau, but the award-winning rapper has indeed found a new love in plus-sized model Denise Bidot. The two made it Instagram official on July 10, 2020 and as of writing, are going strong.